Bullies and Brothers
by bubbles2004
Summary: What happened after Charlie got in a fight with Sam Titchell as mentioned in Rampage Just a little thought. Oneshot for right now, but there may be more later


Bullies and Brothers

AN: This is my first "Numb3rs" story so please be kind! Just a little thought on what happened after Charlie and Sam Titchell got in a fight that was mentioned in "Rampage"

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't own them. Wish I did, Charlie would come in handy…

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Don Eppes walked into his house to fine it empty and quiet. When no one made any sound at his arrival, he reopened the door and slammed it. There was still nothing but the soft murmurs of his parents talking in the kitchen. He wasn't too surprised but would have liked someone to at least acknowledge he was there. Ask him how the baseball tryouts went. He even wouldn't mind one of his parents demanding to know about the "D" he'd gotten on his latest algebra test.

Sighing, Don headed up the stairs to go to his room. Passing Charlie's room he heard his little brother writing furiously. He stopped in the doorway and saw Charlie sitting in the middle of the room, his back to the door, and like Don has suspected he was scribbling away in a notebook.

"Hey Buddy, how's it going?" He asked walking into the room. The number one thing Don could always count on his brother was that he would always give Don his full attention. Though today, Charlie acted like he hadn't even heard him. "Charlie?" Don asked walking closer to him. When Charlie still didn't react, Don sat across from him on the floor. "Do you hear me or are you ignoring me?" He asked with no answer

Don looked down at the notebook and numbers like always. Don could never even begin to pretend he understood Charlie's math, but these numbers looked familiar. It looked like he was writing all the prime numbers down. He looked up to Charlie's face and was surprised at what he found. He saw the beginnings of a black eye and his nose looked as if it had been bleeding.

"Charlie! What happened to you?" Don gently grabbed his brother's face to get a better look and force Charlie to look at him; Charlie eyes shown with unshed tears. "Who did this to you?" He demanded.

"Sam Titchell," Charlie said bitterly, jerking his head to force Don to let go of he face.

"Sam Titchell?" Don knew the kid. He was a couple years older than Charlie, lived down the street and had been terrorizing his little brother all year. Don walked Charlie home from school everyday and gave Titchell his most murderous look he could muster and Titchell would scamper away. Though today, because of the baseball tryouts, Don hadn't walked Charlie home. "I'll kick his ass!" Charlie stopped writing and looked up at Don.

"Mom said not to say bad words." He said and then went back to writing.

"Well what happened?" Don asked.

"He called me a freak." Charlie said not looking up from his numbers. "He said I was different and came from another planet." Don bit his lip as Charlie seemed to get more upset as he went on. "He said I must have been adopted because me real parents didn't want a freak like me for a kid."

"Charlie…" Don noticed Charlie's scribbling was getting fasters. The numbers were running together. His brain was going faster than his hands

"He said you weren't my brother." At that Charlie's pencil broke and he angrily tossed the notebook aside and stood up. Don jumped in surprise. Sure he'd seen his brother angry before, even genius little kids threw pretty impressive temper tantrums before bed and bath time. But this anger seemed older than his eight years.

"Why am I different?" Charlie demanded. "Why am I a freak?" He was shaking now but his tears still hadn't fallen.

"Charlie you're not a freak." Don said gently getting to his feet. "You're not adopted. You're my brother." He reached out and touched Charlie's elbow. Charlie began frantically looking around his room. He found a sharpened pencil and grabbed another notebook and began the prime numbers all over a gain.

Don stood in place and just watched Charlie. He had never seen him like this and it scared him. Charlie was always such a happy go lucky kind of kid. He loved doing his math and was always so excited doing it and talking about it. Now there was something sad, almost dark, inside Charlie's head and it scared Don. He was defiantly going to kick Sam Titchell's ass.

Suddenly Charlie shocked Don more. He suddenly started ripping out pages in his notebook and started throwing them around.

"Charlie!" Don exclaimed. He dropped to his knees in front of Charlie and grabbed his flailing arms. "Charlie! Stop! Stop!" Charlie finally did and Don saw tears were now streaming down his face. Don gently reached out and wiped them away. "Charlie?"

"Why can't I stop the numbers Don?" He almost whispered. "Even when I'm not writing them, they're running in my head and I can't stop them." Don wasn't sure what to day or if there was anything he could say.

He settled on pulling his sobbing little brother onto his lap and resting against Charlie's bed. He gently rocked the small kid and ran his fingers through his curls. He wished he could say the magic words to make this all better. He was beginning to think that this problem was beyond his 13 years and maybe he should get his parents. But Charlie was his little brother. It was his job to protect him and today he had failed so he needed to make it better somehow.

"Maybe you're not supposed to stop the numbers." Don said softly. "You love doing all your math problems, I know you love it." All he got in response was a sniffle. "And who knows, maybe someday your numbers will do great things."

"Like what?" Charlie asked looking you and wiping his eyes.

"Well you like "Batman" right?" Charlie nodded. "Maybe the numbers can be like his gadgets, like the bat belt. Maybe someday you'll do really good things with number and save the world." Charlie starred at Don with excitement and awe.

"Really," He said smiling.

"Yeah, of course," Charlie thought about it for a minute and then nodded slightly, accepting the plan.

"So, I'm not adopted?" He asked.

"No, of course not," Don said laughing. "I remember the day you were born."

"Really," Charlie said amazed. Don laughed again.

"Yeah, Dad brought me in the room and you were crying and screaming. Then you looked over at me and you just stopped. Mom said it was because I was your big brother. And I knew you were my little brother right then." Charlie smiled proudly and hugged Don tightly.

"I love you Donnie." He said into his chest. Don smiled and kissed the top of Charlie's head.

"I love you too Buddy."

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Let me know what you think. I am working on a second part to this, not sure when it'll be up though, so it may turn into a oneshot. Tell me if you want more.


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